Later on I discover that a fourteen year old girl has been hit by the bread van and is fighting for her life. Walking to work is a bit weird, I am shaken and full of thoughts of how a day can turn on a sixpence. One second all is as normal, it's another day at work or school. You are bored or tired or whatever. Maybe you have words with the people you love. Maybe you are just a bit fed up. Maybe you are happy as Larry. Whatever. Within a minute, all that can change.
A day can start as normal as anything. A moment of inattention. A pain in an unexpected place. A telephone call that you were not expecting. Any of these can signal a seismic change to the life you were expecting to live. It's scary but it is the nature of life.
If anything these things point to the futility of worry. We can spend years - lifetimes even, putting our energies into what might go wrong, what might happen. Worry about health, your children, your children's health, your job, your lack of a job, the list is endless. Yet in practice, few of these worries amount to much. The thing that might change your life is more likely to be a phone call on a wet Wednesday afternoon when you least expect it. This is not to cast a pall of darkness over anyone. It's just to say it may be how it is and not a second of worry can change it.
Imagine a life without worry. Fully depending on God. Sure of his tenderness towards you, yet not thinking that means that you live a life without hurdles and disappointments. It must be great to be like that. I'm sure you must get a lot more done.
Matthew 6:34
34 “Give
your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get
worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you
deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
It is weird being on the receiving end of 'that' call. The brain runs ahead sorting out everything that needs to be done...how life will change, what the future will be like ,the best way to deal with things so far ahead that you don't ordinarily think about it...all the while taking it in and responding to the caller's gentle ,kind voice. My call had a happy ending, I hope the girl's family has a happy ending too.
ReplyDeleteJane x
You cope don't you? A bit on autopilot but you do.
DeleteOh my, how terrible. How quickly things can change. I will keep her in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteX x
Yep. She goes to my daughter's school. I believe she is stable - but that could mean lots of things x
DeleteIt really puts things into perspective doesn't it, We are all so pre occupied with day to day worries which will never be life changing in reality.A split second...I am grateful for every day that I spend with my family and friends and often raise my eyes to the sky and whisper thankyou.
ReplyDeleteMay God bless her, and her family, and all those involved. In our 'civilised' technological 21st century society, we think we are in control of everything. But we aren't - and we need to rely on God whose peace is beyond all human understanding, and trust Him when things go wrong. In moments like this, I find the words in Isaiah 43 a great help.
ReplyDelete